The camp was silent long after midnight.
Only the faint crackle of dying fire broke the quiet, the embers pulsing like a heartbeat in the dark.
I didn't sleep. Leaders rarely do.
Nyra had been given her own corner of the camp — guarded, but not bound. I wanted her to think she was trusted. I wanted her to feel safe. Because only then would she show me who she truly served.
I stood in the shadows, watching the way the firelight danced across her face as she sat alone, whispering to something small and silver in her hands — a charm, no bigger than a coin.
A moon-sigil communicator. Council-made. Old magic.
So that's how she planned to play this.
In the distance, Selene's voice murmured through the link-bond we shared.
You see it too?
I see it, I answered silently.
You want me to stop her?
No. Let her speak. Let her think I'm blind.
I stepped deeper into the shadows, listening.
Nyra's voice was soft, urgent. "He's alive. The Shadow Alpha exists, and he's building an army in the woods. The rogues have sworn to him. Selene and Marek lead his flank. He's—"
She paused, glancing around. Her fingers tightened on the charm. "He's stronger than before. And… different. The old blood is awake in him."
A voice answered faintly through the device, distorted but unmistakably cold.
"The Council will want proof, Nyra. Bring us something we can use — or don't come back."
Her breath caught. "You don't understand. He doesn't trust me. He shouldn't. He—"
"Do what you must," the voice snapped. Then the charm went silent.
Nyra closed her eyes, trembling. For a moment, she looked less like a spy and more like a woman trapped between worlds. Then she buried the charm in the dirt beside the fire and exhaled.
I stepped from the shadows. "You shouldn't talk to ghosts at this hour."
She froze, spinning around — eyes wide, fear flashing across her face before she masked it. "You were listening."
"Of course," I said quietly. "You were whispering to the wind in my camp."
"I didn't mean harm."
"No?" I stepped closer, my eyes burning faint red beneath the moonlight. "Then what did you mean?"
"I needed them to know I found you," she said quickly. "If I didn't check in, the Council would've sent hunters. You'd be dead before sunrise."
"Or maybe that's what they wanted anyway."
Her lips parted, trembling slightly. "You think I want that?"
"I think you don't know what you want," I said. "You're too used to surviving between predators."
She looked down. "Maybe you're right. But if I wanted you dead, Kael, I wouldn't have warned you about the Council's spies in Ronan's ranks."
That stopped me. I hadn't expected her to know about that.
"You've been watching longer than I thought," I said.
She nodded. "The Council plays both sides. They fear Ronan's ambition, but they fear your blood more. They'll betray whoever wins."
"So they'll betray everyone," I muttered.
Her gaze met mine again, steady this time. "Then don't give them anyone to betray."
Before I could reply, a sharp howl split the night — urgent, piercing. Selene burst through the trees, blood streaked across her arm.
"Alpha," she gasped, "we've got company."
"How many?"
"Too many," she said. "They're not Ronan's. They carry Council steel."
I turned toward the firelight. Nyra's expression twisted — not guilt, but horror.
"They weren't supposed to come yet," she whispered.
Marek roared from the other side of camp, "We're surrounded!"
I drew my blade, the night alive with tension. "Looks like your friends didn't trust you either," I said.
Her eyes widened. "Kael, listen to me—"
But the first silver arrow whistled through the air, embedding itself in the log beside us.
The hunt had begun again.